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Political advertisements will more clearly reveal their top funders under AB 249, the California Disclose Act authored by Assemblymember Kevin Mullin, which Gov. Brown signed today. Nearly a half billion dollars, $485 million, was spent on campaigns for and against ballot measures in the 2016 election cycle alone.

Statement by Emily Rusch, CALPIRG Executive Director:

“Sunshine and transparency is essential to an informed electorate and a well-functioning democracy. Voters want and deserve clear information about who is funding political ads.

The messenger matters as much as the message to help voters understand the issues they are being asked to vote on.

AB 249 will make the funder disclosures on ads easier to read and understand. Furthermore, it would make it much harder for major contributors to hide behind made-up, innocuous-sounding committee names.

CALPIRG works on issues including stopping threats to public health, making sure the marketplace rules are fair for consumers, and reducing pollution. Time and again, we are up against well-financed special interest opposition in the legislature and on the ballot.

We applaud our friends at the California Clean Money campaign for sponsoring this bill, and Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin for providing the leadership needed to see this bill signed into law."

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Here's an example our friends at the California Clean Money Campaign put together to demonstrate some of the changes to political ads under this new law: